Britain’s diplomats need language classes

Britain is increasingly seen as a bit-part player. That’s down both to our post-Brexit identity crisis and being gradually overtaken by emerging economies such as India and Brazil. 

But it’s also because British diplomats don’t have the skills they need to advance Britain’s interests with purpose and credibility. 

Take foreign languages. Almost three quarters of Britain’s ambassadors aren’t fluent in the language of the countries where they serve. In the Middle East, most diplomats don’t hit the expected standard in Arabic. In Moscow, one third can’t speak Russian and the picture is similar for Mandarin speakers across our vast diplomatic network in China.   

Arabic, Russian and Chinese are the British government’s top priority hard languages. It is a waste of money and effort to send diplomats to Moscow, Beijing, Riyadh and other places to sit in the embassies, reinterpreting BBC World News and spending their time on video calls to influencers in London. 

In 2013, William Hague as foreign secretary, said: ‘Diplomacy is the art of understanding different cultures, and using this understanding to predict and influence behaviour.